Government should urgently pass AIDS bill: Experts

Experts Friday urged the government to pass the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill 2014 as soon as possible and provide drugs and diagnostic services for free to those who are affected.

According to the experts, many patients have to go for expensive treatments due to dearth of the antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs.

The current draft of the bill does not ensure the obligation on the government to provide free and complete treatment for the affected people, said the experts who took part in an event organised by World Vision India with Lawyer's Collective here.

According to the experts, over 8.5 lakh people are being affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and are dependent on the ART drugs.

"The HIV bill aims to provide protection against human right violations and was tabled in the Rajya Sabha recently. It has a long way to go before being passed as a law," said Anand Grover, founder member, Lawyers Collective.

"The bill does not guarantee access to the ART drugs which implies that the government is not supposed to provide the drugs for free to those affected," he said.

According to the United Nation's, India has around 2.2 million people being affected by HIV AIDS.

Reni Jacob, advocacy director, World Vision India said: "There is a shortage of the ART drugs. The government has to provide free medicines to the people being affected by HIV AIDS."